Chuu, a former member of girl group Loona, released a statement in relation to news that her old agency filed a petition to prevent her from working in the entertainment industry.

It was reported on Wednesday that her former agency BlockBerry Creative filed a petition to the Corea Entertainment Management Association (CEMA) and Korea Entertainment Producers' Association (KEPA) in an attempt to ban Chuu from working.

"Hi, this is Chuu," the singer wrote on her Instagram account on Thursday. "It is very regrettable and tiring to keep releasing statements in such ways. Recent slanderous news reports that are based on false information have crossed the line," she wrote.

Chuu, whose real name is Kim Ji-woo, claimed that she "was not even aware of the company BY4M back in December 2021," rebutting the claim from BlockBerry Creative that Chuu signed a contract with BY4M Studio and tampered with her exclusive contract with BlockBerry Creative in order to switch agencies.

"It is hard to bear for me to see myself and our members getting caught in such lies and I will release a statement shortly in respond to the allegations."

According to CEMA, a petition was submitted back in December 2022, one month after Chuu was expelled from Loona. BlockBerry Creative also confirmed the submission of the petition with local news outlets.

In November 2022, Chuu was kicked out of girl group Loona after BlockBerry claimed she was verbally abusive and misused her power against staff.

The singer, who has been embroiled in legal disputes with the agency since early 2022 and partially won a lawsuit to nullify her exclusive contract last March, denied the accusations.

Last month, the Seoul Northern District Court ruled that the exclusive contracts that four other members of Loona — Heejin, Kim Lip, Jinsoul and Choerry — signed with their agency Blockberry Creative be suspended. The court dismissed the case for five other members — Haseul, Yeojin, Yves, Olivia Hye and Go Won. The remaining two members — Vivi and Hyunjin — did not sue. All of the cases were related to unfair contract terms.

BY CHO YONG-JUN [cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr]